What about the Young People?

I have noticed that there have been a lot of anniversaries on the Welsh blogosphere recently. I have realised that I have been blogging for over 14 months on-and-off. I started shortly before the Welsh General election. I predicted that Helen Mary Jones would win the seat. I turned out to be right, although the gamble was almost a certainty.

This blog has become a good way of venting my political frustrations, numerous they are. We live in a society that devalues younger people, developing new adjectives like ‘hoodie’ and ‘yob’ to describe my generation. The sick irony is that the ‘older’ generation is to blame for the minority of younger people that have wandered off the path.

For instance, there is a clear need for younger people to get involved in the Labour party, and the hierarchy realise that. The problem is that we are only included when there is ‘leafleting’ or other odd jobs. The hierarchy is petrified of handing any real responsibility over to younger people and refuses to listen to our ideas. I don’t blame them completely because this has become all too typical of society in general. Political parties should lead they way, engaging and endowing trust in young people. A first step and a symbolic gesture would be to support the “Votes at 16” campaign.

Devolution has helped change things in Wales slightly. With a new Assembly, politics has caught the imagination of the younger generation. Needless to say, there are still a vast majority that are disengaged and we need to work together to involve every single person from every background in Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom.